Classic Rock

Bettye Lavette (January 29, 1946, Muskegon, MI, USA) is a soul singer whose music combines several different influences, from soul and blues to rock, funk, gospel, and even country music. Bettye got her start in 1962 with the single “My Man – He’s a Loving Man”, which was a Top 10 R&B hit. She toured at the time with Ben E King, Clyde McPhatter, Otis Redding, and Barbara Lynn. Her first album, Child of the Seventies, was released in 1972. Bettye saw a revival of interest in 2003, and released her third full length album (A Woman Like Me) that year. Her latest album, Worthy, was released in 2015. (Wikipedia)

Joyce Kennedy (born 1948 in Anguilla, MS) is one of the lead vocalists for funk rock band Mother’s Finest. Joyce began her singing career after moving to Chicago as a child, and recorded the song “Darling I Still Love You” for Ran-Dee Records. She formed Mother’s Finest in the early 1970s with Glenn Murdock, whom she also married. The band saw three albums go gold: Mother’s Finest, Another Mother Further, and Mother Factor.

Mother’s Finest were the opening act for bands such as Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Aerosmith, and The Who. Their songs and albums have explored a variety of social issues, including the seeming conundrum of being (mostly) black rock and roll artists with songs such as “Niggizz Can’t Sing Rock and Roll” and the album Black Radio Won’t Play This Record.

Joyce also has a solo career, reaching number 2 on the Billboard R&B Charts and number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the song “The Last Time I Made Love” (duet with Jeffrey Osbourne). She toured for the last time with Mother’s Finest in 2017.

“What held us back more than anything was making the record, taking what we did onstage and getting people to embrace it on record,” Kennedy said. “The bureaucracy was harder on us than on the people who wanted to invest in the band. We had some good managers, but I don’t think they could see past the interracial element.”

When the integrated lineup of Sly and the Family Stone is mentioned, Kennedy points out that the San Francisco soulsters were primarily an R&B group, while Mother’s Finest reveled in its jagged edges, which was a harder sell to radio. Besides, she said, Sly’s West Coast roots offered “a somewhat different mentality” than the South in the ’70s.

But the band remained steadfast and today, Kennedy, who lives with Murdock in Stone Mountain, is reflective and grateful.

“The music business is a machine and sometimes if you don’t fit the machine, it makes your life hell,” she said. “But your spirit and fortitude, you have to rely on that. That’s why I’m excited about the induction because it says regardless of what happened during the journey, we weren’t overlooked. What we did had a focus, an effect.

“Destiny plays such a huge part in any artist’s career. Sometimes you’re not supposed to open the door. Sometimes you just have to create a path and let other people know it’s possible.”